


feels so classic

by growlery writes (growlery)



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Meet-Cute, Other, mundane AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 12:04:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17703959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/growlery/pseuds/growlery%20writes
Summary: “Hi there!” he says, as bright as his smile. Echo blinks. “Welcome to The Steady, my name's Gig Kephart, you might have heard of me, I'm doing a vlogseries on working in coffee shops, are you okay with being filmed?”“Whoa, hold up,” Echo says, “you're filming right now?”





	feels so classic

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FieryGaze](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FieryGaze/gifts).



> dear fierygaze I am so sorry this is late!! I saw your low stakes meet cute prompt and went a little wild, I really hope you like this.

Echo's not a huge coffee person. They like a good coffee shop, for the vibe and the soothing background noise, especially when they're feeling kinda trapped in the tiny studio they're renting. A good long run scratches the same itch, but that's not what Echo's feeling today, so they head down to the coffee shop on the corner with the paperback they're working through at the moment. They don't go there for any particular reason other than it's close to where they live and they've been often enough that the staff know them and are content to leave them be. 

There's someone new behind the counter when Echo gets there, and he smiles widely at Echo as he watches them approach. Echo sighs internally, their hopes for a peaceful afternoon already fading. 

“Hi there!” he says, as bright as his smile. Echo blinks. “Welcome to The Steady, my name's Gig Kephart, you might have heard of me, I'm doing a vlogseries on working in coffee shops, are you okay with being filmed?”

“Whoa, hold up,” Echo says, “you're filming right now?”

“Uh, no?” Gig says. “That'd be a major violation of privacy?”

“Good,” Echo says, glaring a little. “I am absolutely not okay with that.”

Gig sort of deflates, but then almost instantly brightens, like he's incapable of not being cheerful for longer than a second at the time. 

“Sure thing,” he says. “What can I get you?”

Echo tries to rein in their scowl, because they're a mature adult who isn't a dick to random strangers just because they're kind of annoying. They pick something off the menu they haven't tried before, a chai blend, and Gig nods enthusiastically. 

“Coming right up,” he says, still fucking smiling. If Echo weren't still kinda pissed at the filming thing, it might seem kind of sweet, but they are and it isn't. “Can I get a name for the cup?”

“Because you're gonna get me mixed up with the hundreds of people here,” they say, unable to help themselves, but Gig just laughs. It might be a nice laugh, if Echo weren't irrationally set on disliking this guy. “It's Echo.”

It seems to just be Gig working, so Echo waits patiently at the counter, checking out the new leaflets on the community notice board. 

“Chai latte for Echo?” comes Gig's voice, and when they turn to look at him, he's grinning like he's just said something extremely clever. Maybe that's just what his face looks like. Echo makes the executive decision to be amused by it. 

“That'll be me,” they say dryly, taking their cup when Gig thrusts it at them. There's a scowly face drawn next to Echo's name. Echo looks narrowly at Gig, who's still just grinning. Their lips twitch. “Thanks.”

It really isn't that busy; Echo’s able to curl up in the comfiest armchair in the nook furthest from the door, just off from the counter. A few people filter in, and over the top of the pages of their book Echo watches Gig give the same spiel he gave them. No one takes him up on it until Echo's halfway through their third chapter. 

“Of course,” the guy says, who gave his name as Grand Magnificent when Gig asked. “I'm an artist myself, and I know what a privilege it is to be part of a live art performance piece.”

“I mean, it's for a vlog, dude,” Gig says, bemused but still smiling. “It's not really art.” Grand open his mouth and Echo braces themself for the rant they can see incoming, but then Gig adds, “It's not live, anyway. I'm getting a ton of different footage to edit together later.”

“Oh,” Grand says. 

“Really artistically,” Gig reassures him. 

“Well,” Grand says. “In that case.”

“Awesome!” Gig says, and suddenly there's a fucking eyeball flying through the air. Not like someone threw it, like- like it's hovering. 

“What the actual fuck,” Echo says slowly, and Gig's head snaps around, looking delighted. 

“Changed your mind?”

Echo ignores him. “Is that real?”

Gig scoffs like Echo's just said something ridiculous, when there is an incredibly lifelike eyeball darting through the air around his head. “It's a drone camera,” he explains, like this should be obvious. 

“Why the fuck is it an eyeball,” Grand says, which is a relief; Echo was worried he was going to lecture them on artistic expression and Echo would be the only sensible person here. 

“So I can keep an eye on you,” Gig says, with the absolute straightest face. Both Echo and Grand just stare back at him, and Gig huffs. “Not even a chuckle? You wound me.”

Echo is not endeared. “Put your awful eyeball camera away,” they say, and Gig pouts at them, but it disappears almost immediately. Where it disappears to Echo does not know and they'd honestly like to keep it that way. 

“Yeah,” Grand says, “can I just get my coffee? To go?”

“Sure thing,” Gig says. “Echo, you want anything else?”

“Yeah,” Echo says, which. They didn't not want anything else. Just because they hadn't planned to stick around for longer than one drink doesn't mean they can't. The way Gig beams at them is just- a nice bonus. 

Anyway, their phone vibrates just as Gig's finishing up Grand's complicated coffee order, and it's Ballad asking if they have time to meet up, and Echo always has time for their siblings, so it's not like they're actually sticking around. 

“Can I get that to go too?” Echo says, and Gig makes an affirmative noise from where he's busy with the machine. Echo doesn't know that much about making coffee, but Gig moves like he does this all the time, quick deft hands and clever fingers that Echo does not get distracted staring at. 

“Caramel frapuccino for Echo,” Gig says when he turns around, holding it out for them. His smile isn't small, exactly - Echo figures it doesn't know how to be - but it's a little softer, more warm. 

“Thanks,” they say, smiling back at him. Their fingers brush when they take the cup and, shit, it's a fucking romcom moment, they're having a goddamn meetcute. 

They might be blushing. It's horrendous. 

“Good luck with your, um, your video thing,” Echo says, and Gig rolls his eyes good-naturedly and says, “It's a vlog, it is not a new concept,” and the moment, because Echo knows it was a moment, is gone. 

They're kind of sad about it, honestly, until they meet up with Ballad and the first thing he says to them after their hello hug is, “Did you get a phone number from a barista?”

Echo spins their coffee cup around and bursts out laughing. There's a grumpy face next to Echo's name, like before, and a string of extremely incriminating digits. 

“Come on,” Ballad says, grinning as he knocks their shoulders together. “Let's find somewhere to sit and you can tell me all about it.”


End file.
